Home » Seafood & Fish » Southern-Fried Fish Nuggets
Chunks of boneless fish fillets lightly breaded in seafood breader then quickly fried to crispy perfection.
I grew up eating fish and shellfish. And I LOVE IT ALL (something to know about me... if it gets in the water, I will eat it).
We lived near the Congaree River in the midlands of South Carolina and spent most weekends fishing for and eating bream, rockfish, catfish, etc. We vacationed at the Chesapeake Bay (where my mom’s from) and Edisto Island, SC during the summer and spent weeks at a time crabbing for and eating blue crabs.
We lived close enough to the coast to be able by buy fresh shrimp off the backs of pick-up trucks bringing in their haul through our neck of the woods.
I tell you all this because since I've been married to my mainland, white bread, meat & potato eating Canadian husband, I don’t cook (and therefore eat) fish and shellfish much anymore.
I recently discovered that The Boy loves it like I do. Now, every time we go out to eat, the first thing he asks is if they have fish and shrimp. Most kids love McDonald’s, The Boy loves Captain D’s.
Since Husband spent the entire weekend golfing, I decided to load the kids up and spend some time with my folks. Yesterday, we cranked up the gas stove and cast iron pot on the screened porch and went to town frying fish and shrimp.
We have two awesome seafood breaders readily available in my neck of the woods that are amazing... one from House of Autry and one from Adluh. But I've learned writing this blog that you guys don't always have access to the same things I do so I'll list my seafood breader recipe in the recipe card.
All Daddy does is lightly dust the fish in seafood breader and plop it in some hot oil. I soak mine in buttermilk and hot sauce first but since that’s not how these were cooked, I’m sticking with how Daddy did it.
We always serve our fried fish with homemade French fries, coleslaw and lite bread.
If we're really putting on the dog, you're likely to find a pot of grits, hushpuppies, bread & butter pickles and collard greens too!
Give me the grits (with some of that fish grease spooned on top) and some hot sauce and I'm happy!
Recipe for Southern-Fried Fish Nuggets
Southern Fried Fish Nuggets
Chunks of boneless fish fillets lightly breaded in seafood breader then quickly fried to crispy perfection.
Ingredients
- 2-lbs fish fillets
- Salt & pepper
- 2 cups seafood breader
- Vegetable shortening or oil
- 1 cup ground cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 teaspoons paprika
Instructions
- Heat a minimum of 4 inches of oil in a deep skillet or wide pan to 350 degrees (medium-high heat).
- Cut fish into 1-inch chunks/nuggets then lightly season with salt and pepper.
- Add fish and seafood breader to a large, lidded plastic container or brown paper bag then shake gently to coat.
- Shaking off excess breader, add fish to hot oil and cook until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack or pan lined with paper towels.
Notes
- We use Adluh or House of Autry seafood breader OR make our own with the recipe listed above.
- Use rockfish (striped bass), cod, catfish or whatever you can get your hands on!
- Vegetable shortening (Crisco) makes all fried food extra crispy!
- If using self-rising cornmeal in the fish fry, increase amount to 2 cups and omit flour.
My very young grands love chicken nuggets. I'm gonna try catfish nuggets and see what they think. Sounds delicious and so easy.
ReplyDeleteThanx so much for this breading mixture!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe. Do you know how many people this recipe will feed?
ReplyDelete2 pounds of fillets should feed about 6-8 people.
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